


Ten Steps Back

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Series: Moving Targets [13]
Category: Smallville
Genre: Awkwardness, F/M, Guilt, Humor, anonymous tips, hurt Arthur Curry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:35:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24237385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: he team has another lead on Lex, but once more, things are not going exactly as planned.
Relationships: Dinah Lance/Arthur Curry, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Series: Moving Targets [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1748179
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

k **Queen Jet -- February 15, 2011**

Chloe watched as the seat belt lights went off and unbuckled hers, “I’m going to get a snack, do you want anything?” She asked Oliver, giving his hand a soft squeeze as she moved to stand up. They left Vegas as soon as Oliver’s pilot could get the plane ready and AC and Dinah were already in Florida, at AC’s place, and they were going to meet them there. 

Things were still going as well as they had been the previous day between Chloe and Oliver, she was feeling a little more comfortable with things, especially now that she knew what Zatanna’s spell really had been and that _everything_ they told each other was nothing but the truth. 

Oliver shook his head a little, pressing a kiss to the back of her hand. “No, I’m good.” 

She smiled softly at him and watched him for a second before pulling her hand back and making her way toward the back of the plane, returning a moment later with a candy bar and a bottle of water and resuming her seat next to his, which was much more comfortable than sitting on the opposite side of the plane, “so what should we do when we get there?”

He slid his arm around her, pulling her a little closer to him. “Meet up with Dinah and AC,” he said with a slight nod, kissing her temple. “See if they’ve had a chance to find anything yet.” 

Moving closer to him, she placed her bottle in the cup holder on her seat then shifted so that her legs were resting on his lap, “I’m glad they were already there, at least we won’t feel bad about wasting any time.”

“I wouldn’t feel bad,” he murmured, brushing his nose against hers lightly.

Chloe couldn’t help but smile softly, she leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against his lips, “it was perfectly well wasted time.”

“Mmhmm,” he agreed, kissing her back softly. “We can worry about Lex when we get there.” 

She moved even closer and reached to open the candy bar she was holding, “maybe we should make a detour that would make the flight last longer...” she suggested, raising her eyebrows.

“What do you have in mind?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, as well, and watching her unwrap the candy bar.

Raising her eyebrow, she looked down at the candy and shook her head, smirking, “this has nothing to do with it, or at least, I wasn’t planning on it, but I’m open to suggestions,” she broke a piece of the kitkat bar and took a bite off of it.

He flashed her a grin. “What _were_ you planning on?” 

“Absolutely nothing,” she said innocently once she was done chewing, “just spending some more quiet time with you while pretending Lex doesn’t exist.”

“Hmm.” He pretended to think it over and then, without warning, he scooped her up into his arms and rose to his feet.

Chloe’s eyes widened a little in surprise and she wrapped her arms around his neck, looking down just for a second as her candy fell on the seat before looking up at him, “I’m guessing my suggestion wasn’t good enough for you, Mr. Queen?”

“Oh, on the contrary. I think your suggestion was brilliant.” He flashed her a bright grin, then reached down and picked up her candy bar. 

She watched him and bit down on her bottom lip, smirking slowly, “I thought you didn’t want a snack.”

He smirked down at her. “Not that kind of snack,” he informed her, handing her the candy bar. “But...” He brushed his lips against her ear. “There’s another kind I wouldn’t say no to.” 

“Yeah?” she pulled another piece of chocolate from the package, “what kind is that?” She asked him, before chewing on her chocolate.

Oliver carried her toward the back of the plane. “You.” 

She mock gasped and looked at him, her mouth opened in shock, “I’m a _snack_?”

“Well.” He smirked at her, laying her down on the bed. “More like _dessert_.” 

“Oh,” she bit down on her lip and looked up at him, smirking slowly, “that sounds a lot better.”

“It’ll _feel_ even better than it sounds,” he informed her, mischievousness twinkling in his brown eyes. 

“Well,” she reached over and tugged on his shirt, pulling him closer to her, “don’t just stand there and _talk_ about it.”

Oliver slid his body over hers, leaning down to kiss her, grinning as he did so. He was just glad it was at least four more hours before they arrived in Florida.

Chloe returned the kiss and wrapped her arms around him once he was laying down on top of her.

“I love you,” he murmured, pressing a kiss against her jaw a moment later.

“I love you,” she whispered back, opening her eyes and running her fingers through his hair.

Oliver lifted his head to gaze down at her, searching her eyes, holding her gaze for a long moment. “How’d I get so lucky?” he whispered.

Chloe shook her head a little, “I’m the lucky one,” she told him, smiling softly, “you were incredibly patient with me.”

“You were worth the wait,” he said softly.

Her face softened and she brushed her nose against his gently, “see? I’m lucky.”

“You know what I think?” Oliver asked with a smile.

“What?” She asked, smiling curiously as she looked up at him.

“I think we’re _both_ lucky,” he told her.

Chloe smiled and leaned in, kissing him slowly for a moment then pulling back, “works for me...”

“Thought it might,” he murmured, kissing her again.

She returned the kiss then moved to pull his shirt up, “I’ve never done _this_ before,” she told him in a whisper.

Oliver paused. “Done what?” he asked very softly.

“This,” she told him and smirked slowly, “on a plane.”

He grinned. “Mile High Club, here we come,” he teased.

Chloe laughed and wrapped her arms around, “that was bad, Ollie...” she informed him with a grin before kissing him hard.

* * * 

Oliver leaned back in the passenger seat of the car he’d bought when they’d arrived in Florida. He glanced over at Chloe, a grin playing on his mouth. “Like the car?” 

She grinned and shook her head, “I still don’t get why you _bought_ it, what are you going to do with it when we leave?”

He shrugged a little. “Give it to AC for when he’s here,” he said, looking out the windshield.

“At least green is one of his favorite colors,” she said with a half smirk as she cocked her head to look at him.

He smirked back at her. “He’ll be jealous when my next one is orange.” 

“Orange _is_ the better color,” she teased, reaching over and placing her hand on his leg then squeezing it a little.

Oliver rolled his eyes. “Not really.” He covered her hand with his own.

“How do you feel about a tie?” she asked him, lifting her thumb and wrapping it over his fingers.

He blinked a couple of times and looked over at her. “A tie?” 

“Well,” Chloe cocked her head, “I doubt we will reach an agreement, so we can just say they are _both_ the best colors, this way, AC will join us and with three votes, we will always win the best color discussion.”

He chuckled at that. “I thought you meant the kind of ties I wear,” he admitted with amusement. “You distract me very easily.” He looked down at their hands.

Chloe just smirked at him and squeezed his hand, “good thing I’m driving then, huh? And you know, since I’m a woman, I can multitask.”

Oliver smirked back at her. “Can you chew gum at the same time, too?” he teased.

She smirked a little more, her expression becoming more mischievous, “depends on what _other_ task I’m performing...” she told him, speaking slowly then licking her lips.

His eyes widened a little at that and he swallowed hard. “Oh.” 

After a moment of silence, she laughed, “I really need to put that look on your face more often,” she told him, keeping her eyes on the road, “it’s priceless.”

Oliver grinned involuntarily at that. “Pretty sure you’re the only one who’s ever put that look on my face,” he informed her.

“That makes it just that much better,” she told him, glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes.

He shook his head a little, amused by how amused she was. “Yeah, yeah. You just...drive.” He leaned back in his seat and grinned. 

Chloe offered him a bright grin and checked on the GPS for a second then kept on driving, “so... what are we telling them when we get there?”

Oliver paused for a long moment. “You mean about us?” 

Pursing her lips together, she nodded a little, she had no doubt that at least Dinah would notice something was different right away. 

He tensed ever-so-slightly at her silence and looked out the windshield, the smile slipping from his face a little. “What do you _want_ to tell them?” 

“Well,” she took a deep breath then shrugged a little, “I guess technically, we don’t have to say anything, just confirm Dinah’s suspicions when she comes to ask one of us about it,” because they both knew their teammate and that was going to happen.

“All right,” he said softly, not glancing over at her.

Chloe frowned and glanced at him, her face falling a little when she saw the look on his face, “Ollie, I didn’t mean it like that... it just, doesn’t it sound silly to just show up and be all ‘by the way, we’re dating’?”

Oliver drew in a breath, wondering if he was over-reacting. His grip on her hand tightened just a little. “You’re right. Dinah will have it figured out the second we walk in the door.” 

She nodded a little and squeezed his hand, “and it’s not like we will be going out of our way to hide anything this time,” she said quietly.

He closed his eyes for a moment, relaxing a little. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.

“Don’t be,” she told him quietly, brushing her thumb over his hand, “you’re just expecting me to act like I have been all this time, I can’t blame you for that.”

He lifted their hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles lightly. “Guess we’ve still got some things to work on, huh?” His voice was quiet. 

“Yeah,” she agreed quietly, “we can’t expect to fix everything in a day and a half.”

Oliver nodded a little. “Guess not.” 

Chloe pulled her hand back from his when the GPS announced they’d arrived so she could park the car, shutting off the engine before looking over at him, “good thing we have time?” She said finally, reaching to cup his cheek.

“Plenty of time,” he agreed softly, leaning into her touch and gazing at her intently. 

She smiled a little at him and leaned in, pressing her lips softly against his, going back to reality, facing people they knew and although they had both kept to themselves, people who knew what had been going on more or less and who would notice the differences in their behavior wasn’t going to be easy, but at least they were facing AC and Dinah first and not Mia and Lois, who they were the closest to.

“Come on,” he said softly a moment later, kissing her once more and then reaching for the door handle. 

Chloe let out a breath and nodded a little, “back to work,” she whispered before making her way out of the car.

Oliver wanted to reach out and take her hand as they walked toward the front door of the small house that AC had given them the address to, but he resisted. He reached out and rang the doorbell a moment later, offering Chloe a soft smile.

She was thinking something along the same lines, but instead of resisting it, she reached out and linked her fingers with his then squeezed his hand gently as they stood outside the door.

The breath caught in his throat as he looked over at her, his gaze softening as he squeezed her hand in return. And this time an actual, happy smile lingered on his lips as they waited on the doorstep. 

AC opened the door a moment later. “Hey, come on in.” He smiled at them and stepped aside to let them in.

Dinah wasn’t far behind, she smiled too but left enough space for them to come inside, “what took you so long?” 

Chloe smiled back at Ollie, her heart skipping a beat at the realization that she could put that look on his face just by taking his hand. She turned to look at the other two and grinned a little, “well, when we got out of the plane, Ollie insisted on going car shopping.”

Oliver grinned again, holding up the keys and then dropping them into AC’s hand. “Happy early birthday,” he said, leading Chloe into the house. 

AC stared at him with wide eyes. “Seriously?” 

Dinah rolled her eyes then was about to say something when she noticed the fact that Chloe and Oliver were holding hands, she raised her eyebrows curiously at Chloe and smirked. 

Chloe pursed her lips together and gave Dinah a shy smile and a shrug when she noticed the look the other woman was giving her. There, one down, AC might take a while longer to notice anything.

AC was too busy staring at the car in his driveway to notice the couple holding hands. “Sweet.” 

Oliver smirked, then glanced at Dinah with a raised eyebrow. “So, any news?” he asked with an amused smile. “Of the work kind.” 

At that, Dinah turned her attention from AC back to Oliver, her smirk still firmly in place, “not on the work front, no.” 

Chloe just rolled her eyes a little at Dinah then took a deep breath, growing serious, “you didn’t find any leads?”

At that, AC turned around to look at him. “No,” he said quietly, shaking his head. “But Vic’s got the entire state wired and on the lookout. If Lex is here, we will find him.” 

With a deep breath, Chloe nodded and patted the laptop bag she had around her shoulder, “let me set up then, make sure we don’t miss anything.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Oliver agreed softly. 

“I’ll show you to your rooms--” AC paused, noticing the hand-holding finally. He grinned. “Correction. Room.” 

Dinah looked at AC, surprised and grinned, patting him in the shoulder, “you figured it out all on your own.”

Pursing her lips together, mostly in amusement, Chloe looked over at Ollie and squeezed his hand as she raised her eyebrows, trying to see how he was reacting to the fact that AC and Dinah obviously knew.

Oliver simply smiled and shifted closer to her, letting go of her hand and wrapping his arm around her waist instead. 

“Well, in my defense, Ollie _did_ just give me a car. I was distracted.” AC grinned at Dinah.

Chloe leaned closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder for a second before following the other two. 

“Cars, right, if he had given you a boat, we would not hear your voice for a month,” she teased with a smirk.

“Wouldn’t hear _our_ voices for a month,” AC corrected her. 

Oliver grinned at Chloe, following them up the steps and to a small guest room. “This is a nice place,” he said, glancing around. It was a lot smaller than he was used to, of course, but nice nonetheless. Cozy.

“I’ll take a boat for my birthday,” Dinah informed Oliver with a raise of eyebrows. 

Chloe laughed softly and shook her head a little then nodded her agreement with Oliver, “it is a nice place.”

Oliver smirked at her. “Noted,” he said with amusement, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“Thanks. It’s not like headquarters, but I like it,” AC admitted.

“Do you spend a lot of time here?” Chloe asked curiously.

“Only when I’m in Florida,” he told her with a small smile. 

“And when he’s not in the water, so about four hours a day,” Dinah teased but smiled warmly at AC.

AC grinned at her. “Are you guys hungry? I have the pizza place on speed dial.” 

Oliver smiled and glanced at Chloe. “I could eat. How about you?” 

“Definitely hungry,” Chloe nodded, she had never finished her candy bar after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**AC’s House, Florida -- February 17, 2011**

“Come to bed,” Oliver mumbled as he lay on the far side of the bed from where Chloe sat at the small desk behind her laptop. He propped himself up one one elbow and peered over at her in the semi-darkness, then looked at the digital clock. It was nearly two in the morning. 

Chloe let out a breath and looked over at him, smiling a little, “is it bothering you?” She asked quietly. 

“That you’re not lying beside me? Yes, a lot.” He smirked. 

She rolled her eyes but smirked back, turning to her computer for a moment and typing before closing it halfway, “okay,” she said as she stood up and started toward the bed, “if it starts beeping, it means it found something so, don’t have a heart attack.”

He smiled and held his hand out toward her sleepily. “Pretty sure a computer beeping won’t be what causes me to have a heart attack.” 

Taking his hand, she squeezed it softly then slid under the covers, “just giving you some warning in case it happens,” she leaned in and kissed him softly.

His eyes drifted shut, and he kissed her back without hesitation, tugging her closer to him. “Mm, much better.” 

Chloe smiled and wrapped her arm around him as she snuggled against him, “I agree.”

Oliver rested his forehead against hers, resting a hand against her cheek. “Dinah and AC seemed to be cool with the new development.” 

“Yeah,” she agreed quietly, “I don’t think anyone will have a problem with it, well... maybe Mia?”

He was quiet for a moment, considering that. “I’ll talk to her,” he said softly, his thumb moving lightly over her cheek. “She’ll be all right.” 

She leaned into his touch and nodded a little, turning her head and kissing his palm, “probably better to wait once we’re back in town.”

Oliver nodded in agreement, leaning his forehead against hers. “Agreed.” 

Chloe tightened her arm around him and shifted closer, brushing her nose against his, “I already know what Lois is going to say...” she told him with a smile. 

“Probably a lot,” he teased.

“More like ‘finally’ and ‘took you long enough,’ followed by ‘I knew you’d figure things out eventually!’” Chloe told him, smirking softly.

A small smile tugged at his lips. “I guess she was kind of rooting for us since the beginning.” 

“She was,” Chloe agreed, rubbing her hand slowly over his back, “on Christmas, she even asked me if I was in love with you.”

He raised his eyebrows. “She’s never been one to not speak her mind, has she?” 

Grinning softly, she shook her head, “definitely not.”

He kissed her nose lightly. “We should probably try and get some slee--” At that moment he was cut off by a loud thud against the wall behind them.

Chloe’s eyes widened and she lifted her head, looking back at the wall and she was about to get up when she heard a loud moan, instantly making a face she looked over at Ollie.

Oliver’s eyes were wide, as well and he stared back at her for a moment, then chuckled. “Wow. Awkward.” 

“ _Yeah_...” she agreed, smirking a little and shaking her head, “I’m just glad we haven’t done anything since we got here.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “You mean you don’t want to see which of us can make more noise?” 

“Oh we can totally beat them,” she said with a smirk as there was another moan, followed by a groan, “but they don’t ever need to know that.”

“Well.” He grinned at her. “I’m not sure we could or not. I mean, we’re vocal but Dinah _does_ have that sonic scream.” 

“Right,” Chloe winced, looking back toward the wall, “I forgot about that, and I definitely don’t want to be anywhere near them if she feels the need to let AC know she appreciates him _that_ much.”

Oliver grimaced. “Let’s not hang around and find out.” 

“Definitely not,” she agreed, glancing at the wall as the thudding became faster.

He kissed her forehead and rolled out of bed. “Leftover pizza in the kitchen?” 

“Sounds like a plan,” she told him quietly as she stood up too, “at least it’s AC and not Bart,” she pointed out, pursing her lips together.

He made a face at her. “Mental images, Chloe.” 

She grinned and shrugged a little, “I’m thinking stamina-wise, sorry.”

Oliver groaned involuntarily. “I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear you say that.” 

Chloe laughed quietly and wrapped her arms around him from the back as they made their way to the kitchen.

He shook his head a little. “I think I’m traumatized for life.” He covered her arms with his. 

“Please,” she pressed a kiss to his bare back, “I can come up with mental images that will be a lot more traumatizing than that...”

“Yeah, please don’t.” He closed his eyes, groaning softly at the feel of her lips against his bare skin.

Chloe hugged him tightly for a moment and shook her head, “no groaning, we’re not going there, I don’t want anyone hearing us.”

“We could always relocate to a beach.” He smirked.

“Not like we’ve never done _that_ before,” she pulled away from him and moved to stand in front of him once they were in the kitchen. 

He grinned. “I remember.” He reached out and opened the fridge.

“I would be upset if you didn’t,” she told him, grinning a little and leaning against the kitchen counter as she watched him.

Oliver pulled out the pizza box and set it on the counter, glancing at her. “I remember everything.” 

“Everything?” She asked curiously, moving to get glasses where she’d seen Dinah pull them from earlier, “like what?”

“About you. About us.” He opened the box and looked at her once more. 

Her face softened a little and she leaned closer, kissing him softly, “like when we first met or the time I threw you across the room with one hand?” She teased quietly.

He grinned at her. “Both.” He leaned down and kissed her again.

Chloe grinned back at him and nodded, “I guess our relationship is full of interesting stories...”

Oliver trapped her between the counter and his body, his arms on either side of her. “It’ll just keep getting more interesting.” 

Her eyes widened a little and she stared up at him, smiling, “sounds good to me.”

He smiled back at her, dipping his head to kiss her. “I’m glad to hear it,” he murmured.

She returned the kiss and lifted a hand to cup his cheek, her chest warm as she felt like saying the words again, and although her first instinct was to stop herself, she just smiled and brushed her nose against his, “love you,” she whispered. 

“I love you,” he whispered back without hesitation, leaning his forehead against hers. He was quiet for a moment. “You know you’re the only woman I’ve _ever_ said that to besides my mom when I was little?” 

Her eyes widened at that information and she cocked her head a little, “really?” She whispered, she knew he’d never said it to Lois, she would have heard if he had dropped the ‘L-bomb’ as Lois called it, but she always assumed things were different with Tess...

“Really,” he told her, lifting a hand to her face and tucking some hair behind her ear.

Chloe leaned into his touch and took a deep breath, “I’ve said it before,” she whispered, holding his gaze, “but with you, it feels right.”

Oliver kissed her very softly in response. She wrapped both arms around him tightly as she returned the kiss just as softly.

At that moment a loud beeping sound resonated through the house.

Her eyes widened and she broke the kiss, “the computer,” she said, sliding from between him and the counter and rushing toward the room they were staying at.

Oliver followed close behind, his own eyes wide. 

Chloe opened her laptop all the way and typed in the password quickly, her eyes widening when the screen told her that Lex had been spotted, the facial recognition filter that she was running over all the satellite images they were getting seemed to have worked. 

“He’s here.” She whispered, looking over at Oliver with wide eyes.

“Where exactly?” He’d already picked up his cell phone from the table and was dialing headquarters.

“About forty minutes North of us it seems,” she could hear footsteps around the house and was glad that AC and Dinah were there, at least they could protect Oliver better than she could.

He was glad when Victor picked up. “Vic, we’ve got a lead on Lex. Can you connect remotely?” 

A second later, Chloe got notification that Victor was in the network and pulled up his screen, looking over at Oliver, “we might need back-up, looks like he has his men with him.”

“Victor, can you ask Bart to--” Before Ollie could finish the request, a strong gust of wind hit him and he blinked. “Thanks.” 

“What is going on?” Dinah asked, tying her robe around her, frowning when she walked inside the room and saw not only Oliver and Chloe, but Bart there as well.

“We found Lex,” Chloe told her, wincing a little, looking like she and Oliver weren’t the only ones who got interrupted. 

AC stepped into the room behind her, wearing pants and no shirt. “Where?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. 

“Forty minutes north. We need to get moving.” Oliver nodded slightly and moved to get his suitcase.

“Right,” Dinah said and disappeared from the room. 

“I’ll go ahead, keep an eye on them,” Bart offered. 

“Don’t try to go after him on your own, we don’t know if he has any traps waiting for us,” Chloe told Bart. 

“Chloe’s right,” Oliver said with a nod. He tugged a shirt on over his head. “We need to stick together.” 

Chloe glanced at Ollie then looked down at the screen, at Victor, “can you contact J’onn? If we manage to get Lex, we’ll need him.”

“Already done,” Vic confirmed with a nod.

“Thank you,” she told him, pursing her lips into a thin line, her stomach turning as she thought about them going close to Lex and the fact that he had nearly succeeded in killing Oliver not long ago.

“I’m out of here, see you guys there,” Bart said, sliding his communicator on, “tinman, coordinates,” he said before vanishing. 

Oliver turned to look at Chloe, seeing the nervousness in her eyes. “We’ll be okay,” he said quietly.

Chloe nodded a little and looked at him, “you know you will be his first target, you need to worry about protecting yourself and not getting him,” she paused, “maybe you shouldn’t come at all.”

“I can’t let the team go out there and put themselves on the line if I’m not willing to do the same, Chloe.” His voice was quiet.

Her chest tightened more and she watched him for a moment then nodded slightly, before blinking and starting toward their suitcases, “we need to get ready.”

“Chloe.” 

She looked over at him and watched him for a moment, “we shouldn’t waste time, Ollie.”

He moved over to where she stood, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her urgently on the mouth.

Chloe stilled for a second then wrapped her arms around him too and returned the kiss with just as much urgency. She couldn’t lose him, and she knew that every time things were working out for her, something eventually happened to take it away, she was determined not to let it happen this time, and she was going along with the team for the first time to make sure of it. 

“We’ll be okay,” he whispered again.

She swallowed hard and looked up at him, her eyes wide but she nodded, “okay.”

He kissed her once more and waited anxiously as she got dressed. “Come on.” He reached out and took her hand in his. 

Taking his hand, she took a deep breath and grabbed her laptop before following him out of the room.

* * * 

**Miami, Florida -- February 17, 2011**

“Where the hell did he go?” Oliver asked breathlessly as he stopped his race through the crowd near the docks and the others caught up with him.

Chloe was barely able to keep up, her legs were already burning from the running but she wasn’t about to let her body stop her, “he’s supposed to be _here_ ,” she told the others, speaking into the communicator as she checked her phone with the updated information Victor kept sending. 

“I’ll take a look from up there,” Dinah said, running and with the aid of some cases, making her way to the top of a warehouse that was connected to the docks.

Oliver watched her go and glanced around, not seeing any sight of Lex’s bald head anywhere. And they’d just seen him moments beforehand. “Dammit, we _had_ him!” 

AC stood up on one of the cases to get a better vantage point. “We’ll get him, Dude. Breathe.” 

“I don’t see the bald bastard anywhere,” Bart announced, still running around the area.

With a deep breath, Chloe looked around, squinting, “what is under these docks, Cyborg, can you check with the heat detector if there’s anything underground?”

“Looks like there’s a boat under there, Watchtower,” he reported a moment later.

“Well, it is a dock,” Oliver murmured. 

“This dock is off-limits to personal boats,” AC informed them. 

Chloe turned to AC, “maybe you can check underwater and we’ll all go in if you find anything?” She suggested. 

“I don’t see anything from up here,” Dinah told them over the communicator.

“I’m going in,” AC agreed with a nod, heading off and further into the crowd.

Oliver looked around uneasily, a worried frown on his face. “I don’t like this.” 

Stepping closer to him, Chloe pursed her lips together, “me neither.” 

“I’m covering Aquaman,” Dinah informed and moved toward the edge of the roof before jumping off of it.

At that moment the sound of gunshots rang out. 

Without thinking about it, Oliver just reacted, grabbing Chloe and hitting the ground in a flash, his body covering hers as he kept his head low.

Chloe's eyes widened and before she could really tell what was going on, she hit the floor hard and gasped as Ollie’s weight hit her, closing her eyes she could hear the gunshots, “Aquaman, come in,” she breathed into the communicator.

“I got him,” Bart told them, a worried tone in his voice. 

“Impulse--is he injured?” Oliver asked, looking down at Chloe with worried eyes.

“Yes, I think it’s just his arm, I’m running him to Dr. Hamilton.” He told them, “Lex did it.” He added tightly. 

Chloe stared up at Oliver with wide eyes. 

“Impulse, come back and give me a ride when you drop him off,” Dinah added, her voice firm and neutral. 

“Son of a bitch,” he whispered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Queen Industries Labs, Metropolis -- February 18, 2011**

They had made their way to Metropolis as soon as possible after Arthur was hurt, Bart and Dinah were already there with him and as soon as the plane landed, Chloe and Oliver made their way straight to the labs where Dr. Hamilton was now working out of and where Bart had taken AC to. 

Even though they had been reassured that he was okay, he was part of the team, besides, Chloe figured Dinah might need the support. 

Oliver had been unusually quiet during the entire plane ride, his muscles tense. He walked down the corridor silently, his jaw tense. 

Chloe had her hand in his on a tight grip as they walked together, “he’s okay, Ollie,” she whispered, even if she also felt tense. Lex had nearly killed Oliver and he had come really close to hurting AC badly. They had to stop him. Soon.

“This time,” he said quietly. “What about next?” 

“Hopefully there won’t be a next time,” Chloe said just as quietly.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, squeezing her hand a little and pausing in his steps. “You really think Arkham can hold him?” 

“I hope so...” she whispered, “if J’onn can keep an eye on him and take care of things if needed,” it still felt wrong to alter Lex’s memory, but she was not going to have him out there, trying to hurt people.

Oliver stared blankly at the wall for a long moment. “Maybe we should reconsider something more permanent.” 

“Ollie...” she whispered and shook her head, “I won’t let you do that.”

“Chloe.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Look what he’s doing.” 

“I know,” she said quietly but urgently, “but I don’t want _you_ or any of us to have that weight the rest of our lives.”

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “I know.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “I just don’t know what else to do.” 

“I think the Arkham plan can work and this way, we get to keep an eye on him, if we... do something else, there is no telling who will go after him to try and bring him back,” she reasoned, squeezing his hand.

He swallowed hard, nodding a little and squeezing her hand in return. “Let’s go check on AC.” 

Chloe nodded her agreement and took a deep breath, stopping outside of the lab then knocking before pushing the door open.

AC glanced over at them from where he was sitting up in the hospital bed. “Hey, guys.” He offered them a smile.

“How are you feeling?” Chloe asked, returning his smile with a small one of her own as they moved closer to the bed.

“Pretty good, considering.” He nodded at her. 

“How’s he doing?” Oliver asked quietly, lingering back toward the door. 

“He will be okay,” Emil assured Oliver, “the bullet hit his arm but luckily it narrowly missed his shoulder and all of his bones.”

Chloe let out a breath and raised her eyebrows at AC, “lucky,” she teased, “you have no idea how much the bone thing hurt.” 

Dinah was standing in the corner of her room, arms crossed across her chest and watching them in silence.

Oliver winced a little and looked down for a moment, then over at Dinah. “How are you doing?” 

“Okay,” Dinah answered shortly, “we need to be better prepared next time.”

“Hey. I’m all right, D,” AC told her, looking over at her. “Like Lex is going to keep me down.” 

Dinah pushed herself from the wall and walked over to AC, “he’s keeping you in that bed for a while, that’s keeping you down.”

He smiled up at her. “I’ll be healed before you know it.” 

“You better be,” Dinah told him. 

“If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some things to check on,” Emil said, glancing among the group and then heading out the door. 

Chloe nodded and smiled softly at Dr. Hamilton, “thank you, Emil,” she told him as he left. She watched them for a moment then paused when her phone beeped loudly, “sorry,” she told them as she pulled it out of her pocket, her stomach dropping when she saw the message was from a private number.

“Chloe? What is it?” Oliver’s voice was quiet, his eyebrows furrowing at the look on her face. 

She pursed her lips together nervously and looked over at him, “our informant,” she told him before looking back down at her phone and reading the text message out loud, “eliminate him before he eliminates you.”

“This is just getting weird.” AC looked over at her and then at Ollie and Dinah. “I mean, who is this informant? How are they constantly onto whatever it is we’re doing?” 

“I don’t know,” she admitted, looking from Ollie to AC and sighing, “they are obviously watching us, they are incredibly resourceful.” 

Dinah frowned hard, “another thing to worry about.”

“Not only that, but they’re watching Lex. Which means they’ve got close enough to us _and_ Mr. Clean to know exactly what’s going on.” AC looked at her and then back at Chloe and Oliver.

Oliver raked a hand through his hair, then rubbed the back of his neck.

“That’s a good point,” Chloe frowned a little, she hadn’t really thought about it that way, “the question is, is this informant on our side or his?” Because she still wasn’t convinced this person wasn’t Tess Mercer. 

“Or are they just out for themselves?” Oliver added quietly. 

“More than likely they want us to get rid of Lex for them,” Dinah added, eyes narrowing. 

“Or Lex to get rid of us,” AC suggested. 

“Or for us to off each other,” Oliver murmured, eyebrows furrowing.

Chloe sighed and rubbed her hands over her face, “lets focus on Lex, Vic and I have tried everything we could think of trying to find this person and we can’t get anything on them.”

“Which makes it even more worrisome,” AC pointed out. He sighed softly and looked up at Dinah. 

Dinah frowned and looked down at him, “like we don’t have enough on our plates.”

He nodded a little. “Yeah, exactly.” 

Oliver glanced at Chloe. “You’re right. Our main concern is finding Lex right now.” _Before he finds another one of us to try and kill._

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, looking at Ollie then back at AC and Dinah, “we should get to work, you guys will call if you need anything?”

“We’ll be all right,” AC assured them. “But thanks for coming to visit.” He smiled, nodding a little. 

Dinah nodded at the two of them, “let us know if you find anything.”

“We will,” Oliver said quietly, pausing and looking at Dinah for a moment. “I’m sorry.” His voice was almost inaudible and he cast his glance at AC before heading out the door.

Chloe’s chest tightened a little and she pursed her lips together, looking at AC, then Dinah before following Oliver out of the room in silence.

* * * 

**Watchtower, Metropolis -- February 19, 2011**

“We’re missing something. Again.” Oliver paced the floor of Watchtower. “Lex couldn’t have just _vanished_ from Florida.” 

“I don’t know how he’s doing it,” Chloe told him, sighing deeply and rubbing her face, “I looked at every single satellite image from surrounding areas for two hours after the incident and there is nothing on him.”

“It doesn’t make any sense.” His jaw was tight.

“The only thing I can think of is that someone hacked our satellite and erased the images, but there is no way anyone could do that without me or Vic knowing,” she told him, turning away from the computer and looking at him.

Oliver shook his head a little. “I know.” He blew out a breath and resumed pacing. “We gotta find him.” 

“I know...” she agreed, “I just wish I knew where else to look.”

“Dammit,” he muttered, raking a hand through his hair in frustration. “One guy shouldn’t be _this_ hard to track down.” 

“This isn’t just any guy, Ollie,” Chloe walked closer to him, “it’s Lex Luthor.”

“I know. I know. I’m just...” He shook his head a little. 

“You’re angry, frustrated, tired,” she finished, placing a hand on his arm and rubbing it gently.

He couldn’t argue with that, though he did pause in his tracks when she reached out to him. He blew out a breath. “And guilty. Let’s not forget that one.” 

“It’s not your fault,” she told him, repeating the words she had said to him so many times already in the past few days.

Oliver was silent for a moment. “Isn’t it? Considering I’m the one Lex wants dead?” 

“No,” she said firmly, holding his gaze, “do you think if he wasn’t after you, he wouldn’t be trying to break us apart anyway? Do you think we wouldn’t be looking for him just the same?”

“I know, Chloe,” he said almost inaudibly. 

“Then don’t blame yourself,” she pleaded quietly, stepping closing to him, “there is no reason for you to, Ollie, besides, that place we went to in Germany, Lex was waiting for Clark, not you.”

He closed his eyes for a moment, then wound his arms around her tightly, resting his chin atop her head. “I just keep wondering how many times Lex is going to slip through our fingers or get at us before we can catch him.” 

Chloe let out a breath and wrapped her arms around him just as tightly, “hopefully that was the last time.”

“Hopefully,” he echoed. 

But somehow he doubted it.


End file.
